ICP Teen Academy

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Samantha Santana-Carrasquillo



In my project, I embark on self-exploration by capturing my relationships with others, the objects I own, and my personal involvement with specific locations, like my home and sporting communities. I photograph myself – both isolated and with others – in the environments I feel most comfortable in where the most natural of relationships and passions blossom in many different forms, cultivated by love, effort, and energy. Through the process of photographing myself interacting with others, I hope to engage the audience in understanding the kind of person I am based on the people around me. In photographing items that I own, specifically those that are important to me, I wish to tell people the kind of person I am through my interests, hobbies, and habits. Finally, through self-portraits, I show people who I am in my most natural state: alone. It is through these three types of pictures combined that I tell people my personal story, allowing people to embark on my journey of self-reflection while also reminding them that my story is just beginning.
 
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Samantha “Sam” Santana-Carrasquillo is a photographer from the Bronx. Santana-Carrasquillo’s photographic journey began on her 14th birthday, when her parents gifted her their old family camera. She began finding joy in casually taking photos of her friends and family in daily life. In the spring of 2024, Santana-Carrasquillo began taking photography more seriously and was selected as a member of New York University’s Future Imagemakers, where she created her first photo project, which focused on what she knew best: her friends and family. She is currently a student at the International Center of Photography’s Teen Academy Imagemakers program. Her main source of inspiration still stems from her friends and family, but recently she’s been trying to turn the lens back on herself, capturing the symbiotic relationship between those she’s photographed in the past and herself. In the future, she hopes to attend Duke University for Biomedical Engineering while still exploring her passion for the arts.